Zombie Apocalypse (not even kidding)
by MercyFrost
Summary: Smallville during the zombie apocalypse. Set after Finale. There are zombies and they have to beat them. There's not much more I can tell you. Tollie/Clois, though it's not a major thing. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Again, Chloe and Oliver's marriage was invalid. Tess was stabbed, but she was healed. I love putting Tess and Oliver together, So they get together. Clark and Lois are together, obviously. And surprise for Chloe's love life later in the story. Oh, and don't forget the zombie apocalypse.

...

Two years earlier

They may have thought they stopped the apocalypse. But they were wrong. True, Clark pushed away the planet, apocalypse, but they let their guard down after that. They were so focused on getting Tess healed, they stopped looking. Oliver was so afraid for Tess, he stopped protecting.

Oliver dumps Chloe for Tess. What they had was safe, not love. So, Chloe wasn't hurt. But she did stop working at watchtower. And Tess wasn't completely healed, so she wasn't working there either.

If they had kept working, they might have noticed what one scientist found. A nameless scientist found remains of the disease that the kandorians spread through Metropolis. Yeah, the one that turns everyone into zombies. It was released at a time when most people were affected.

People who managed to remain unaffected scattered. Most roam, never staying in one place for to long, because if you don't, you're almost assuredly dead.

_Chloe_

I can't help but remember. All of our group was separated, Tess, Oliver, Lois... Clark. I haven't seen Clark since before it happened. I haven't seen anyone since before it happened. But Clark should have stopped it. And and I should have heard rumors if he was zapping zombies left and right. And i hadn't, so he probably wasn't.

I've been searching for a place to stop for weeks. I've been searching for other humans for months even though I'd never stay with a group. It'd just make it harder to kill when someone gets turned into a zombie.

I'm currently watching a group of brain-eaters march past. They pass, and I wait about five minutes and hop out of the tree I was sitting in and into the the bushes below.

But I'm not down for long, because the minute I touch ground, I'm yanked back up. I'm trapped in a _net_? Probably old, left over. But if someone could get me down, or get myself down, whichever, the net could be useful.

About fifteen minutes later, still struggling, all I've managed to do if get myself into a very awkward position. It's now very difficult to move. "I thought a human would be smarter than this,"'says a smooth, silky voice that sounds extremely familiar. I can't quite figure out where from.

"Could you get me down, please? Then you can mock my IQ after," I plead. "You, know I'm rather enjoying this. I think I'll wait." I sigh, and roll my eyes. "Can I at least know your name so I can plead properly?," I request.

"Most people have given up their old names. They don't want their past to affect them. So I go by Mercy," she answers. Mercy, Mercy, where have I heard that name before? Oh, my..."Tess?"


	2. Chapter 2

_Tess_  
How does she know that? How could she figure that out? There are aren't very many people who could've figured out who I am just from the name I took. Only Clark, Lois, Chloe, and Oliver, obviously. After all, he's the one that gave me the nickname.

"It's me, it's Chloe. Now get me down from here. **Now**!," she demands. And, I may actually believe her. I walk around the net. "Chloe!" Saying 'I can't believe it' would have been a bit of an understatement. "Yeah, I know! Crazy, right? Now, if you could move a little faster...," she snaps. Same old Chloe.

I start walking in the opposite direction towards the mechanism that releases the trap. "Where are you going? I don't remember you being **_that_** sensitive. Or sensitive at all, for that matter," she mumbles. I guess the apocalypse makes some people bitter.

"And _I_ don't remember you being so angry all the time. I'm going to release the trap. Calm down. It's amazing that you're still alive with patience like that," I quip. And it's true. You need patience to survive now. You're short tempered, you're dead. Simple as that.

I let Chloe down and walk back over. "Thanks, I didn't mean to be so snippy. It's just, you can't understand how uncomfortable that net is," she explains. I smile, "It wasn't designed to be comfortable. Come on, follow me. I found a place to stay a while back. I've been staying there ever since." She cocks an eyebrow, and shoots me a puzzled look. But, she follows.

A couple minutes later she questions, "You said 'ever since', ever since when?" I look at her,"Since this whole thing started. I found it about a week after."

_I keep running despite the tearing pain through my abdomen. I look back, they're farther back. At least far enough back that I could dive into a bush or a cave or something._

_I see, maybe, an old sewage vent mostly covered by different forms of plants. Sewage vent, not my first choice, but in situations like these you don't exactly get to choose. I slip through the brush._

_It's cleaner then I would have expected. But, I don't have time to focus on that. If necessary, I have to be ready to hop up and dash out at a moment's notice. I peer through some of the branches. They pass, but I don't relax until a couple of minutes later. Luckily, zombies aren't very smart._

_Now that they're gone, I can check my stomach. The stitches that held my stab wound closed, have opened. I sigh, then immediately regret the decision. I roll the bag on my back off of my shoulders. I have thread and an ace bandage. This should work. But, it will hurt, a lot._

_I realize that I don't have any pain killers. Darn. I pull a needle out of my bag and thread it. I then grit my teeth and set to work._

_After I do that, I look around. The old sewage drain is occupied by plants. But all the things one might expect to find in a sewage drain weren't there. I'll stay here for tonight then decide what to do._

Ever since that day I stayed in that old sewage drain. The next day I scoped out the tunnel. An easy getaway through the back.

Chloe and I finally reach it. We sit down around the fire I have going. Only recently did my stomach completely heal. So, I'm grateful that it doesn't hurt to sit. It's only a scar now, a fresh scar, but still, it's only a scar.

"How'd you find it?," Chloe asked, interrupting my train of thought. "Oh, you know, running from zombies, the usual," I answer with a smile. With a matching smile she returns,"And you stayed here? You know, most people aren't staying in one place. They're afraid to." By the end the smile has faded into a more sullen look.

Understood. But, I've actually done better staying still. Only leaving to go hunting. Or to check the traps or the the nets that Chloe got stuck in. But, instead of voicing these opinions I simply nod and say, "You should stay with me. Staying still has worked pretty well for me, anyway. If everyone did it, it wouldn't as well. But since there's only a few of us..."

She looks up at me, the fire casting an odd glow on her face. "You always  
have to look smug, don't you?" The truth is, I don't mean to look smug, I didn't even realized I was. But, I suppose it's natural for me. I guess I don't even have to try anymore. Not that I mind.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chloe_  
I wake up before Tess. The sun's just beginning to rise. The sky a beautiful mixture of pink and orange that looks straight out of a watercolor painting.

I normally have to get up early to start moving. But, I promised I'd stay, at least for today. Besides, I don't doubt that the second I try to leave, Tess will wake up, because of that meteor power of telepathy that I still swear that she has, but hasn't told anyone about.

As if on cue, she woke up. "Morning," I say, my voice still raspy from sleep. She sits up and lightly puts her hand to her face. She's obviously still groggy from sleep. "Morning," she also raspily replies.

"Make a decision?," she asks. She never did dally around a topic, it was always cut to the chase with her. Which in this case is unfortunate, because I just don't know.I never stayed with a group because it would be harder to kill them when they inevitably get turned. But Tess, she can take care of herself, probably better then I can. I wouldn't have to worry about her. "Yes, I'll stay."

A smile spreads across her face, not a large one, because if it was, then I'd be worried about her. I'd think she was being turned. But, she seemed happy.

"I guess the first thing you should know is where the traps are. That way you can collect whatever we get from them, as well as not get trapped in them yourself. Again," she added. She gets up and puts her hand down to help me up. I grab it and haul myself up. "Works for me. What about breakfast?," I ask. She laughs, pretty hard, too. "We have to catch it first."

It takes hours for her to show me where all of them are. I'll be lucky if I remember where they all are. I'm amazed that she can, not that I'll ever admit that, of course. Don't be ridiculous.

Amazingly every _**single**_ one of them was empty. So, that's why we're in the situation we're in. We're looking up into a tree, debating which one of us should climb up it to get the eggs in the bird's nest that's at the top. "You're nimbler," Tess argues. "You're taller," I retort. "What does that even mean?," she asks. "You can reach farther. You'll have to climb less," I answer.

In any other case people would be worried about us complementing each other like this. But, in this case, we both gain something by it. So it's ok.

I look over at her. She raises her eyebrows. "Rock. Paper. Scissors. Shoot." I play scissors. She goes rock. Darn it. I sigh loud enough that she can hear. I start climbing.

I get up most of the tree pretty easily, then the limbs start to branch out. Excuse the pun. "This is why you should have gone," I yell down. "Shhh! Are trying to wake up _everything_ in the forest?," she says. I sigh and keep climbing.

I finally reach the top when I realize, how am I supposed to get these down there? I, quite simply, can't. "Um, how do I get these down? I can't exactly carry them down." I look down and Tess seems just as perplexed as I am. "Throw them and hope I catch them, I guess. I usually have a bag to put them in but it got destroyed." Not going to ask how. I don't want to know.

Oh, boy. "Ok, then." I grab the first egg and look down. "Ready?," I ask. "Ready," she replies. Sure of herself, always sure of herself. But, I don't have the same confidence in her abilities. Not that it matters, there's only one way to get these eggs down, that we can think of, and this is it.

"Ok," I say warily, " 1...2...3." I drop it and pray that she catches it. That's our breakfast. I lose track of it on the way down. Tess looks up at me. Oh, man. She dropped it. I know she did. But then, a smile spread across her face. She yells up "I got it!" I pump my fist, then I nearly fall out of the tree. Mental note, no fist pumping while hanging out of trees.

We repeat this process multiple times until all of the eggs are down. I then 'nimbly', as Tess would say, work myself down. "Nice climbing." "Nice catching," I reply. "Fair enough," she says.

She bends down and picks up half the eggs. "Oh, you're helping," she says with a fair amount of attitude. "I did climb." she starts walking away. "Don't care," she replies.

I'm assuming that you guys are thinking, wow, that was really cold. But, this is how we've always communicated. But, this is what we're comfortable with. Oddly enough, she's still, like, my best friend. I know I can talk to her, openly-ish, I guess, sort of, whatever.

We went back to the drain. Tess already had a fire already going. Always prepared. It's kind of getting annoying, actually. I bend down and put the eggs down. "Do you happen to have a pan, or something like it?," she asks. Maybe not _always_ prepared.

I look up at her and cock my eyebrows. "Because everyone carries pans around during the apocalypse." She shrugs. "Just thought I'd ask." With any other girl in the world, besides her and Lois, my snark would be completely insensitive. But with her we label it _banter_. So that makes it OK.

"Well then, looks like we're not eating quite yet," she replies. I look down at my growling stomach. "Man," I whine.


	4. Chapter 4

Tess  
So because we have eggs but no pan to fry them in, we have to try to break into a Wal-Mart, that's guarded by zombies. I lead Chloe to where it's located. We crouch down behind a bush as one of the brain-eaters rounds the corner. "Wal-Mart?," Chloe interrupts my observing.

"Things were destroyed. True. But not everything," I explain. She nods to indicate that she understands. Just then one of the zombies (I'm never going to get used to saying that) comes around the corner. Thankfully, Chloe knew enough not to just charge in.

It appears that they come around in thirty second intervals. So as soon as it rounds the corner we have to shoot out and run inside. By the way, things aren't locked anymore. So, it makes things easier on everyone. "On my mark...go!," I whisper.

We leap up in a forward motion to shorten the distance. Every second counts. And shoot for the door. We slip in and run right into someone.

"Hey!," yells a male voice. I slap my hand over his mouth In man attempt to silence him. "They're passing us right now. And unless you feel like dying you should stop talking, now." As my eyes adjust to the dimness I can begin to make out his shape. He's tall, husky. It's obvious he worked, or maybe even works, out. His hair is spiked. And judging by the way he's holding himself he's probably very cocky and extremely arrogant. "Fine. But, was the monologue really necessary?," he asks. Look at that, I was right.

I begin to make my way over to the light switch. "Were you able to find a light switch?," Chloe questions. Mr. Cocky and Arrogant replies, "Over here." At that I flip the switch. "You're not the only one that knows their way around here. "Oliver!" I furrow my brows. That doesn't make any sense.

I walk over to the aisle we were in. "Chloe! I haven't seen you in forever. I thought you might have, you know. Anyway, who you traveling with?," he asks. I round the corner. I catch sight of him. It is Oliver. Now I know I was right on the money with my presumed description.

A huge smile spreads across my face, not huge, actually. That'd be a huge exaggeration. But, it was big for me. "That would be me," I announce myself. His voice lowers to barely a whisper. "Mercy," he breathes. He walks over to me and grabs me. He holds me so close to him that I think I should be afraid of suffocating. But, I just can't find it in myself to care. Instead I pull him closer.

_Crash_

I roll my eyes and pull away. Just my luck. Chloe and I make eye contact and dive into the next aisle. Oliver, instinctively, follows. Fortunately, that was the aisle where the pans were kept. Chloe grabs one and receives a quizzical look from Oliver. Steadily, we make our way to the door. I turn to Chloe and we silently debate on who should check if it's safe.

Still silently, we resort to the go-to for every human being. Rock Paper Scissors. I decide to go with scissors and she plays paper. I smirk, she rolls her eyes and goes to check. So, basically, we reenact this morning. She's going to have to get better at this or she's going to end up doing everything.

One of the good things about our little group is that every single one of us can communicate through facial expressions. Like in this case, Oliver is asking me why I didn't let him go. I simply wave him off, not having time to debate with him.

Chloe waves us on. She seems to have discovered their pattern. I didn't even stop to consider that she wouldn't. Which could have been disastrous. I've got to start thinking before I send people into situations that they might not be able to handle. Luckily, it's Chloe, so I don't have to worry _too_ much.

We run out the doors and dive into bushes. Thorn bushes, of course. Knowing Oliver's about to yell or at least say something loud enough to be heard, I slap my hand over his mouth, again. After a few moments I slowly lower my hand away from his mouth. I motion for them to follow.

After we are out of the _things_' earshot I break the silence. "Where have you been, Oliver?" I glance back. He comes up beside me and puts his arms around my shoulders. He tries to act casual about the gesture, but I see right through it. It's protective, almost instinctive. He wants to make sure I'm real, that I'm not going anywhere. I realize that no words will ease his fears, so I lean my head on to his chest. "Looking for you," he answers. He always was a romantic, at least, more of one than I am. You don't actually have to be much of a romantic to be more of one than me.

Of course my realization of reality has to ruin the perfect reunion moment. Chloe is right behind us. Unsure of what else to do I strike up a universal conversation. "We're heading back to our, Chloe and my, campsite." All of the affection and emotion gone from my voice because of pure embarrassment. Though, I don't pull away from his grasp. That would take away the security that the moment did give him.

The switch of topic does not disappoint him, I'm sure. He's used to this, at least he should be. If he's not, I can't imagine why he still loves me. Not that I'm even sure he still does. I never understood why he did in the first place. Ah, familiar insecurities that only seem to arise around him. Strangely, I also never feel more relaxed than when I'm near him. Ah, to be in love.

Luckily, Oliver understood what I was doing. He dropped his hand to my waist and moved over to allow Chloe room to walk alongside us. Consequently, he moved closer to me. "How'd you two meet up?," he questions.

Suddenly, I realize Chloe and I met up again only last night. It felt like we had been reunited months ago. While I'm trying to comprehend how long we had all been apart and the brevity of time we worked together again Chloe answers, "I fell into one of her traps last night and we stayed together. Tess has an old sewage vent that she stays in. This morning I accepted her offer of staying with her. We went out to find food and found a bird's nest. _I_ got the eggs down. Only when we got back did we realize, we had nothing to cook them in. So...," she finishes as she holds up the pan. Oliver nods As if saying, well that explains the plan.

I lead them to my makeshift home. Chloe hasn't really gotten a chance to know this forest inside and out the way I do. We slip in through the brambles. They're still up for protection purposes. Everyone needs as much of that as they can get.

"Homey," Oliver says. I look over at him and shrug. "I try." Chloe laughs a little. I don't think anyone in the world has truly laughed hard in two years. Though, it's refreshing to see the humanity every once in a while. We can still have our banter. We can still laugh. And while it's not on the top of my priority list, it's enjoyable to see.

"Where do we all sleep?," Oliver asks. I again shrug my shoulders. "Anywhere," I reply. Chloe responds, "Yeah, that's what we did last night, anyway." "Works for me," he answers as he lowers himself to the ground.

I go to tend the fire. I grab the wood that I have stacked in the corner and feed it. "So, what _have_ you been up to, Oliver?," Chloe asks. After I tend to the flames I walk over to where he Oliver is sitting and sit down next to him. He slings his arm protectively around me in a way that would have made anyone feel safe.

"Basically, running around. Trying to survive. Really, what everyone else is doing. I've also been trying to see if anyone else from our merry little band of heroes survived. Mainly," he nods his head towards me, "her." I feel myself blush to a beat red color, but I immediately regain my composure.

Later, out of pure boredom out of there simply being nothing else to do, we go to sleep. I'm curled up next to Oliver with his arms still around me. He feels a constant need to be near me. It's almost as if he's afraid I'll evaporate if he doesn't hold on to me at all times. I just wish there was a way to ease his fears. With these thoughts I drift off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Tess  
I dream. I dream almost every night. Always similar, if not the same. It's a slide show of horrors. All of the things I've endured. They never seem to stop stacking up. Starting with the things that I can't actually remember but can imagine happening when I lived at the Luthor mansion originally, and ending with that day. It seems to grow longer everyday.

Though, I must admit I am grateful for one of the horrors. Having to sustain myself in Louisiana did teach me a few things I use on a day-to-day basis during the apocalypse. Louisiana scarred me horribly. I scrounged for food, slept in fear, hid from my dad, and was beaten by my father.

All of that second only to one thing. The night Oliver cheated. While, it never physically harmed me, it scarred me worse then anything else could have.

Yesterday, when I woke up, it took everything in me not to give Chloe the slightest inclination about these nightmares. She would press for details. And these dreams are something I'd really rather not focus on.

Today, I wake up to a living nightmare. There's feet outside. Running feet. That means either someone's running from zombies, or zombies have learned to run. Or both. I take a deep breath. No one else is awake.

Just then someone dives through the branches, just as I did two years ago. I can barely make out the shape, but I can make it out enough to know that it's human, female, I think. She puts a single finger to her lips to silence me. I nod to ease her worries.

She repositions herself, so she's no longer lying on her stomach. We wait approximately five minutes. Within those minutes Oliver and Chloe wake up. Quickly, we motion for them to remain silent. As soon as we're sure they're gone we relax.

With the lack of light we couldn't see our new guest. I break the silence. "Name?" Her head moves to look me in the eye, even though we can't really see each other's eyes. Dawn is just beginning to break. "Does it matter?," she answers. This lady's going to be a pain to get rid of. "Without a name the likelihood of you staying are slimming very quickly," I respond.

Chloe and Oliver are looking on, but they obviously aren't going to back me up. I can already see they've started to see me as the current leader. Though unofficial, just as Clark had been, it doesn't take any of the pressure off. "I have... I've made many enemies. Before all of this started of course," she answers.

The sun is steadily rising, enough that I can see who it is I'm talking to. Just as I begin to realize just how familiar this figure is, she introduces herself. "Lois...," she says with a cocky attitude that is so familiar that I finish her sentence for her. "Lois Lane."

I can see Chloe and Oliver now. Their eyes are so wide that they looked like saucers. Chloe leaps up and embraces Lois. While I'm happy to see her, I'm not that happy. And because Oliver is still afraid of losing me, he doesn't rush to her either. "Hey! Hey, don't do that! Stop it!," Lois yells as she pushes Chloe off of her. I roll my eyes.

Oliver comes over to me and holds me from behind. He nuzzles his head into my hair and I can feel him smiling. Chloe regains her senses for a minute. "Lois, Lois! Ow, it's me. It's Chloe," she says while rubbing her arm where Lois slapped her.

I physically see her jaw drop. I chuckle just a little bit at her surprise. "And you two lovebirds are?," Lois asks. I smirk at that. Oliver smiles and answers, "Tess and Oliver." She nods. "That explains why I got so frustrated when I was talking to Little Miss Arrogant."

She's smiling now. At this point everyone in that room, sewage vent(whatever). But, yet again realization hit me. I've come across three friends in three days. Does anyone else find this at least a little bit odd? So I voice my concerns that someone's playing with us.

Noticeably, everyone's face pales. All of us are thinking the same thing. Jor-El. How else could we all come together in three days? Especially considering things have been the way they are for years. We're all sitting in silence, thinking about the possibilities. Finally, Oliver says exactly what everyone's thinking, "Jor-El."

"Not Jor-El," says a voice from behind all of us. We all whirl around. A man, average height, dark hair, darker eyes, is standing there. Chloe's jaw drops to the ground. I don't recognize him, and it seems neither does Lois. She keeps looking at Chloe expecting an explanation. Oliver, meanwhile, has a look of vague recognition, as though he can't quite place where he had seen him before.

Chloe, her voice barely a whisper, breathes, "Brainiac." Ah. I see Lois comprehend the gravity of the situation. Oliver has 'yeah, that explains it' look. But all I can think is, why is he here? Why would he help us? What is he doing? What is he planning?

I collect myself quickly and take control again. "I'm assuming you're not here for the pleasure of our company. So, why are you here?," I interrogate. He smirks. I don't like being smirked at. I don't like that he's withholding something. "Smirking at us isn't going to do much good. I'm assuming you're going to try to use us as pawns, and making us angry isn't going to do much to help you," I retaliate.

The apparent smirk that took it's place on his face began to fade into something that almost resembles respect. "Fair enough. You're right, partly. I want you to help with the current situation. I've been attempting to reunite all of you. While I can't directly intervene, I can help guide you. All I can do is bring you all together," he explains.

Oliver begins to say something, but Brainiac cuts him off. "I realize you're one member short. I'm working on that. He's a little more difficult. She," he points to me," would have been the most difficult, but, lucky for me, she decided to stay in one place. So, just had to guide the rest of you here." He's trying to lead Clark here. That'd be great. But, how could we save the world? Even with Clark's powers it would be pretty impossible.

As we all contemplate the newest information he starts up again. "That's all I can tell you. I must make my departure now." And with that he disappears.

After a few minutes of silence, Lois, always the one to break the silence, starts. "Guys, he's not the only one with some news. I was heading south a while ago. But, where I think Mexico ended there was something like border patrol. I don't know what it means, though."

That could mean... We might not have to save the world, but maybe just North America. I look over at Chloe and see she's thinking the exact same thing that I am. I share my thoughts and they all agree.

"This could make things a lot easier. Maybe even possible. Our only problem would be finding Clark. If we can do that, Clark in all his glory using whatever plan Chloe and Tess make up, we can do this," Oliver says.

"We can do this," Chloe agrees


	6. Chapter 6

_Oliver_  
The new information gives us all hope. Though nothing too consuming, it was enough, and enough for repo reasons. Firstly, we now have a guide. Someone who will point us in the right direction. And we really need that.

Also, we now know that this isn't a worldly apocalypse, but just continental. Which, still isn't good, it's definitely better than the alternative.

Tess pulls herself out of my arms to be more commanding. And I can't blame her for that. After all, you're never very intimidating when in your boyfriend's arms. "Now our only decision is whether we stay put and wait for Brainiac to bring Clark to us or do we go and try to find him ourselves. What do we think?"

Everyone stops for a second to think. Finally, Chloe answers, "We go find him. I'm not good with waiting and the sooner we find him the better." Personally, I agree. We have to try to help find him. Relying on past super villains isn't exactly on my agenda.

"How would we find him though?," Lois asks. She does have a point. We have no way to know where he is. "I'm sure Brainiac would help guide us," Tess counters. Though we'd still be relying on a past super villain. But Lois has an argument ready. "He said he couldn't help us anymore. Weren't you listening?"

"She's got a point, maybe we should just let Brainiac take reigns on this one," I say. Ok, so any way we do this we have to rely on a past super villain but this way is safer. Chloe begins to look at me as if I have five heads. But that looks one I've grown used to, we specially from Chloe. "When have I ever let anyone else 'take the reigns' on anything?," Tess inquires. True.

Before anyone can answer she begins again. "He may be able to put ideas in our heads, though. Use our own minds to guide us to Clark." It could work, _if_ Brainiac participates. I nod my head, "Ok, let's do this."

Lois smiles and nods her head. Of course that means we're going to travel. So, we need preparations. "We need bags. You know, to carry stuff. Unless anyone wants to carry _everything_," Lois challenges. Chloe nods, "Back to Wal-Mart."

"We don't all have to go. Only some of us. Oliver and Lois, since you were so keen to get bags, you can go. Oliver, do you know the way?," Tess questions. "Yeah, I got this," I say.

With that Lois picks up her machete. Yes, her machete. Where she got a machete, I don't know. She seems to think we're going into trouble. Which, all logic says it's not exactly a long shot. So, I grab my bow and quiver full of arrows.

We start out. At the opening, Tess stops me. "Hey, wait." Lois looks back and cocks an eyebrow. I wave her on and she looks at me skeptically but continues. "I need you be careful. I just got you back, I can't lose you. Take this," she says as she puts one of her pistols in my hand. She wraps both her hands around my hand that holds the gun. "Be careful," she says again. She kisses me, quickly but sweetly. She looks at me warning me, 'if you don't come back, I'll kill you all over again.' I nod, take the gun, and leave her standing there watching me.

I run off to join Lois. "What was that about?," Lois inquires. "She just wanted to give me, I mean, us, this," I reply, holding up the gun. She gives me a disbelieving look, but drops the subject. As we make our way towards the Wal-Mart we fall into silence, and my thoughts go back to Tess.

She seemed so genuinely worried. Her worry broke down those walls she has built up. Now, _I'm_ worried about _her_. I wish I could ease her worries. But all I can do is ensure that I go back to her. I just hope that's enough.

I'm sure Lois's thoughts aren't straying far from the love of _her_ life. I feel bad for her, as well. She's probably more worried about Clark than Tess is about me. Just as I consider bringing it up, we get to where we were heading.

One of the zombies rounds the corner. "Go," I whisper. We dash to the entrance and go in. "We should get backpacks," I say. "What, so we look like a bunch of kindergarteners on the first day of school? I don't think so. Let' check the camping section first," Lois retorts.

"They'll all be gone. People will have taken all of them," I reason. "We're checking," she reasserts. She's obviously got something against _Hello Kitty._ Whatever, it doesn't matter to me. We walk over to that aisle. Go figure, they're all gone. I shoot her a 'I told you so' look. She narrows her eyes in disappointment. "No one asked you." She'll just have to deal.

I smirk at her as we walk over to the school bags. We grab one bag for each of us. Lois picks up a superman one. I silently ask her 'really?' "What?," she asks. I shrug. That left three others. There was a My Little Pony, a Hot Wheels, and a zebra print one left.

With one on both Lois and my back, and stuff the other two in the bags. Lois, not very smartly, might I add, rushes straight out. Right into one of the zombies. It's amazing she's survived this long if she just rushes into everything like this. It lets out a fairly loud grunt, and obviously it was audible to other zombies, because three others come around the corner. And two come from the other side. I had my quiver in my bag. Of course.

Lois and I go back-to-back. I pull out Tess's gun. You've got to hand it to her, she always thinks ahead. That is Tess, obviously not Lois. I start shooting at them left and right. I look behind my back and see Lois hitting anything she can reach. One of them, one we obviously missed, dives between us.

Lois twirls around and cuts of it's head. Yes, it was disgusting and i'd rather not go into details. There are more of them coming from everywhere. We can't stay here. We're outnumbered. "We have to go. Run!"

We dash away from the scene. Luckily, zombies are extraordinarily _slow_, so we outrun them by a lot. We run around our encampment a couple times. Around the fourth time we dive in.

Tess hearing the _semi_-loud noise rushes over with yet another gun in hand. Seeing it's us, she puts the gun in the holster around her waist. "I'm guessing things didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped." Both of us are still flat on our stomachs. Lois still panting looks up at Tess, shakes her head, and drops her head back to the ground.

Tess chuckles and leans over to help both of us up. Each of us grabs her extended hands. "So what happened, exactly?," Tess inquires. Lois and I exchange looks and Lois says, "We might as well explain to Chloe, too. Rather not have to get laughed at more than once." Lois leads the way to the main chamber.

Lois and I sit down, Chloe was already sitting in the corner. She looks up at us, smirks and says, "So, I take it things went well, huh?" Tess walks over next to me and sits down. She nuzzles herself into my side and I put my arm around her to hold her close.

Lois begins to explain our story, all the while I distribute the bags. "I asked this of Chloe, now I'll ask this of you. _How_ are you still alive?," Tess questions. Chloe laughs. "What?," Lois returns. "You can't just charge full force into things anymore. You have to be more careful or you'll get us all killed. And we don't want that do we?," Tess says.

I smile, visibly. To see that it doesn't matter to Tess that it's the apocalypse, she's not going to change, makes me feel as though she really could stop all of this singlehandedly. I pull her in closer to me and she gently repositions herself so she rests comfortably against me.

Lois gives Tess a glare and starts up a conversation with Chloe. I ask Tess when she's planning on starting to move. She answers, "Probably tomorrow morning. I think Chloe and I should check the traps just to see if there's anything we could bring with us. We should actually get going now. Chloe." She nods her head toward the exit and apparently she gets the message because she gets up and leaves.

"Hopefully our little endeavor turns out better then yours, hm?," Tess teases as she kisses me on the cheek and walks out. I smile and watch her leave. How is she so perfect?


	7. Chapter 7

Chloe  
Tess had explained what she wanted to do while Lois and Oliver were gone. She wanted Oliver and Lois to get some bags. Almost done with that. When they got back we were going to go check her traps. Then, tomorrow morning we would leave.

Mostly we were planning on Brainiac to kind of pop the directions for us to go in, in our heads, or even just one of our heads would be good. Anything would work at this point.

When Oliver and Lois got back, a little later than we had hoped due to Lois's impromptu intuition to dive head first into whatever is thrown her way, Tess motioned for me to follow her out to check the traps. We leave and Tess either wants to strike up a conversation or is somewhat relying on my opinion she asks, "What do _you_ think about the adventures of Lois and Oliver?" She glances my way, the first option is definitely more likely.

Regardless of her reasons I give her a light, but straight answer. "I think that, of course, the second we let Lois out of our sights, especially with Oliver, they, literally, get attacked by zombies." Tess chuckles a little but otherwise remains stone hard.

Her absolute refusal to let any emotion pass is a clear indicator, for Tess, and Tess alone, that something's wrong. "What's got you so overjoyed?," I ask. Again my attempt to lighten the mood is deflected by her improbably impenetrable shields.

"They could have died, Chloe," she says. This is about Oliver apparently. She wouldn't be this upset if Lois nearly died. That used to happen so many times a day it hardly even phases us anymore. Besides, if Lois died, I'm not sure Tess would have been all that upset. "But they didn't, did they?," I reply.

The barriers come down and I see a woman terrified of losing the man she loves. A woman who has already lost so much, that what she has, she holds on to for dear life. Though, she also is prepared to lose it, because now, she sees it as inevitable. She has been broken many times, but always pulls herself together. I recognize each of these looks because I've seen them all before, separately, though. Never before on one person. And for once in my life, I feel sorry for Tess Mercer. I'm going to remember that look forever. And it will permanently affect the way I look at her. I almost feel protective of this broken woman.

Now, I respect her even more than I did before. Because I used to think that she had forced herself to control when she could aford to have emotions. And I  
respected her for that. But now, I realize she simply battles those emotions and either uses them to her advantage or simply separates them from things she thinks shouldn't be affected by them. And this earns her not even my respect, as before, but my admiration.

We walk in silence, each to her own thoughts. We check many of the traps each having nothing. At the fifth trap, Tess starts again. "I can't lose him." I look up from the trap I was inspecting with sincerity in my eyes. "You won't. As long as he has you to come back to, he'll never stop fighting.

She smiles and while I can tell her internal, emotional war is still waging, I see this reassurance, that I was sure would do nothing, does ease her worries, even if only a little bit.

At the last, and according to Tess the most active, trap there, are five squirrels. One for each of us plus one. We smile at each other, go over, take down the trap. Then I realize this is the trap I got stuck in. "I brought a whole new meaning to active," I joke. "You were by far the biggest thing I've caught in this trap," she returns.

After sharing a smile, we grab the squirrels and head back. When we get there we dump two of them in the pan and put them over the fire. After we cook all of them except one, which we put in Oliver's bag, I pull Oliver aside.

We go outside to talk. "What's up?," he asks. I look him dead in the eye and tell him, "To say you worried Tess would be an understatement. You have to be more careful. You..." Oliver interrupts me, "It wasn't my fault! Lois jumped head first into them. I had to follow her! Did you not want me to help her?! Next time I'll make a mental note not to help my friend who might _die_. Ok?," he finishes as he stalks off back into the main chamber.

I just made things a lot more awkward for all of us.

I hear Lois ask Oliver, "What happened to you, Mr. Jolly Green Giant?" Lois really has to learn time and place. "Not now, Lois," he grunts. I walk back in and Oliver leans down and whisper something to Tess. She gets up and follows him outside.

"What's got his knickers in a twist?," Lois questions. Not wanting to explain, and knowing Tess wouldn't want me to share I answer, "Nothing, he's fine." Lois raises her eyebrows. "Obviously not, what's going on?" I look her dead in the eye and make it clear I'm not telling, so she drops the subject and goes to sharpen her machete.

Of course Lois would miraculously acquire a machete.

Should I not have said anything to Oliver? I guess it really had nothing to do with me. Maybe I should have let Tess handle it on her own. It is her relationship, after all. But, I couldn't just sit by and watch. If you had seen the look on her face, you would have done something, too.

She is going to be so mad. But, as Tess once said, "What's life without a little excitement?" But I doubt she'd appreciate me throwing those words back at her, especially since she was being sarcastic.

What parts is Oliver going to tell Tess? If he tells her I told him about the look on her face I'm fried. Because that'll only make him more worried about her and Tess more worried about him because he'll be so worried about her that when he's fighting, he'll be too focused on her that he'll get killed. This situation is both complicated and morbid.

I shake my head. Lois notices, of course, "Tick in your hair? Or are you disagreeing with yourself again? Please tell me it's a tick. One of these days you're going to disagree yourself nuts." I laugh. "It's nothing. I'm just confused. How did we miss this? How could we let this happen in the first place?," I cover for myself.

"We were just getting over one disaster, we figured fate would give us a little break. But, fate has proved, yet again, it hates us," Lois explains. I laugh again. Lois always knows how to make a conversation lighter.

Oliver and Tess walk in again. Both go to sit by Lois, who's on the other side of the 'room'. He obviously told her something she didn't like. I just hope she doesn't know the whole story. Knowing Tess, she probably got it all out of him. Or she was spying on our conversation. With her anything's possible.

I think maybe I should talk to her. Well, I should talk to both of them. But I still see steam coming out of Oliver's ears, so I'll just talk to Tess. Who in all likelihood is just as angry, just less likely to explode. "Would it be out of line for me to ask to talk to you?," I walk over and ask Tess. She looks away from Oliver and to me. She replies evenly, "Fairly." But she gets up and walks to the entrance.

I go out to meet her. "What were you thinking?," she asks. "I told you something I didn't want you to tell anyone else. I _thought_ that went without saying," she concludes. I put all of the sincerity of my apology in my eyes. "I'm sorry. I was trying to help."

Tess scoffs at me and rolls her eyes. Obviously, she's not buying it. Why do I always intervene at all the wrong times and stay out of things at all the wrong times? I nearly roll my eyes and scoff at _myself_. Though I can't do that. It'd give her more ammo. And I can't give her that.

"Why do you always feel the need to put yourself in every situation? Because I, personally, can't think of one time it turned out well," she asks. I cringe at that. The worst part is, she's right. I mess up everything. And you wonder why I'm still single. Hint, hint, this is the reason. Well, that and the react that it's the apocalypse. But mostly the first part.

Tess shakes her head and grits her teeth as though trying to hold back her temper. And I can't blame her. And an apology won't get me anywhere. Tess hates long wordy apologies that are nothing but poetic words strung together, at least, that's what she says. She feels as though that's all most apologies are. And she's partially right. She must hear a lot of them from people attempting to save their jobs. I'm also assuming she got a really long drunken one from Oliver the night he cheated. But, unfortunately, her disbelief in apologies has left me with nothing t say.

"I thought I could talk to you without you putting what I say on the front page. I thought you were _good_ at keeping secrets," she finally explains after a few minutes of silence. And while I know I'm going to regret it I say, "I just don't understand why this is such a big deal." She looks at me with a look of disbelief. As though she's asking me 'are you serious?'. "We've all got our stress level higher than usual. We don't need anything added on to of it. He's already worried about me, as much as I about him. And adding to that isn't going to help anyone, is it?" She seems to have calmed down a little. Though, she always has that that calm anger dwelling just beneath the surface.

But, because I'm fearful of her underlying fury, I let her walk away. She leaves me standing in the entrance. I lose it. With everything pressing up against me I crack. I'm jealous of Tess and Oliver. I miss Clark. I miss Jimmy more than anything else. I hate our misfortune. I feel sorry for Lois. I feel sorry for what I did. With all of my emotions ganging up on me, I cry.

I simply cry.


	8. Chapter 8

_Lois_  
I have no idea what happened between everyone but me. All I know is that it's awkward, very very awkward. Nobody's talking to Chloe. Why, I don't know.

I decide that silence would be the best thing right now so I just sharpen my machete. Yea, I know. Lois? Silence? Never. But I know enough to know that Oliver might hit something if I taunt him, I know Chloe's too upset and will take whatever I say personally, and Tess will likely bring her point-and-shoot anger to me. Trust me, you don't want to deal with any of that. Finally, we all fall asleep amongst the awkwardness.

The next morning we all wake up. We all pack up our weapons. Yeah, we all have them. Chloe puts her two swords in the sheaths that cross behind her back and form an x across her chest. Oliver cleans off his arrows and puts them back into the quiver as well as tightening his bow and placing that in his quiver, too. He puts that over his head and onto his back. Tess reloads her pistols and puts them in the dual holsters around her waist. She also sharpens her daggers and puts them in the pocket in each of the holsters.

We also shoulder all of the bags. I got the superman one, Oliver grabs the hot wheels, Tess grabs the zebra striped one, not wanting the My Little Pony one, and sticks Chloe with it instead. I get the feeling Chloe would scowl at her if Tess wasn't so mad at her right now. Instead I mock her, I start to sing the My Little Pony theme song. And for my troubles I only receive a glare from Chloe, but otherwise I get no feedback.

Chloe asks to talk to Oliver and Tess, again. I don't know who says what but when they come back later the awkwardness that before was impossible not to notice is gone. I don't know, I don't care. So I just ignore it.

We set out and now that the awkwardness is no longer we start a normal conversation. Well, as normal as we can get. "Who wants to call out to the used-to-be-evil cyborg from the future first?," Oliver asked. Tess shoots him a sideways glance but doesn't say anything. Chloe looks around. "Um, how exactly do we get his attention?"

Chloe bites her lip as if she's trying to come up with something but failing. Tess looks as though she's actually formulating something. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she says, "Follow me." I go to mock her but she's already ahead and not planing on listening to anyone. Though, that doesn't stop me. "Did you get a sudden sense of divine intuition?" Tess rolls her eyes but ignores me as she always does.

When she's in the mood, she's a great wit sparring partner. And I'm sure she thinks the same of me. It's only when she's not in the mood that she's absolutely no fun.

We all just follow Tess and her weird sense of direction. I'm assuming she's actually getting something and not just leading us in random directions. Because then I'd be mad. "And just where are we going?," I ask.

Tess shrugs. "Just trust me," she replies with that patented superiority in her tone. I silently curse Brainiac for giving Tess his guidance. We go on like this for hours. Finally, Oliver says that we should take a break. He says that he's starving. And starving, I am. Chloe looks cautiously at Tess and nods. Tess sighs but gives in. "Then we need to find some food."

Oliver nods and pulls out his bow and arrows. "Anyone else have something that could be used for hunting?" Tess shrugs, "I have two guns and two knives." I shake my head. "Too noisy." Chloe gives a contemplating frown. Suddenly, she perks up. "Your knives could work, though. How good's your aim?" Tess smirks. "Good enough."

So Tess and Oliver set out, and about an hour later come back with three squirrels in tow. "Only three? Did you just give up or what?," I ask. Tess rolls her eyes. She fixes me with another superior glare. "Do you suffer from short term memory loss?" What kind of question is that? "No." Smirk still plastered all over her face. "Do me a favor, check Oliver's backpack." I raise an eyebrow. I don't want to be proven wrong so I figure I should try to put the ball back in my court. "Why should I?" She scoffs at me."Because you want to eat, is that a good enough reason for you?" I narrow my eyes at her and go and check Oliver's bag. And in that bag is another squirrel. Right. Forgot about that. I bite the side of my lip but otherwise, I don't react.

I don't even need to look at Tess to know she's smirking. "Whatever," I say trying to let it go. We cook them up and eat them. We have an average conversation. We save the heavy plan talk until after we eat. "So, what are we going to do?," Chloe asks. Grudgingly, even I have to admit, we've all started to look to Tess as our leader. Although, I've never actually listened to any leader, never mind Tess.

"It looks like it's later than I had anticipated it being. And seeing as traveling in the dark isn't the brightest idea on or off the planet, I guess we should set up camp. Though where remains to be seen. I got lucky and was able to settle before things got too out of hand. That means all of you would know better on where to stop." She looks at each of us. "Well, I guess we should start moving since nobody has any idea where to stop or what to do," I say. Oliver and Chloe look at Tess for either a reaction or approval. Whichever they were looking for, they only get a nod.

We pick up our bags and start moving. In the distance we hear footsteps. They sound human, and they're not hurried as though they're running from something. Oliver looks at Tess and she nods. That's an indicator that we should try to find whoever is making those footsteps.

The footsteps grow closer. As we turn a corner we can begin to see who the person is. He has light brown hair, brown eyes, and is very tan, naturally, from the looks of it. He spots us and walks over to us. Hehehe, how is Tess going to get rid of him, and how cruelly.

I look over at Chloe for the usual look of anticipation of Tess' cruelty. And I get, halfheartedly, though. She seems intrigued? I, not wanting to dissect Chloe's look, turn to Tess.

Tess is nothing, if not reliable. She's got her disbelieving business smirk ready to go. She is going to shoot him down, and it's going to be bad. I look at Oliver. I see he sees it too because he's smiling.

"Hey, I'm Mark." He goes to shake hands with Tess. Her presence is obviously not commanding just to us, but to the rest of the world as well. She's always addressed first.

Tess looks down at his hand, looks back up to his eyes, and says, "Tess." Plain and simple. No emotion attached. No warmth, no ice, no nothing. He turns his attention to Oliver and extends his hand toward him. Oliver shakes it, doesn't completely shut him down but comes pretty darn close as he say, "Name's Oliver." I nod my head towards him and and tell him my name. Chloe smiles (weird) and introduces herself. "I'm Chloe. Sorry for the stone statues," she says as she nods toward us. He returns a warm smile. "It's no problem. Nice to meet you, Chloe, " he replies as he takes her hand and kisses it! This boy's going to get a piece of my mind. And it ain't gonna be pretty. Tess, sensing my outrage, steps between us. "Hi, look, we're really on a tight schedule. So if you two could move this along, it'd be greatly appreciated. K?," she explains. Haha, classic Tess.

Chloe turns toward Tess and raises her eyebrows. "What kind of schedule can you be on right now?," Mark asks completely innocently. I see Tess' eyes flash. Whoa, no one questions Tess, besides me, and even I know where not to go. I look over at Oliver. He's the only one left to defend Mark from Tess' fury. Even Chloe, ever since her and Tess became friends, doesn't push it with her. And I'm certainly not going to defend the little punk. "Look, we're trying to find a friend of ours. And we'd just like to do it as soon as possible," Oliver intervenes. Tess adds, "And we don't need the extra baggage." I snort in agreement. "Well, let me help. I haven't come across another human in forever. Please let me stay with you guys." He has a thing for Chloe that's all. "Come on guys, it can't hurt," Chloe pleads. And apparently it isn't one-sided.

Tess narrows her eyes. Her and Chloe are best friends, true, but that doesn't mean she's gonna let this guy stay, right? She doesn't like him, then again, I remember how her and Chloe started out. They hated each other. A lot.

I shake my head at Tess, who was looking at me. She turns to Oliver, he gives a silent whatever you think. She sighs. "You can stay... for now. The second we say you have to go, you hit the road. Understood?" I sigh dramatically. Chloe smiles. Oliver looks like he didn't expect that. Mark nods his head, "Gotcha. Thanks."

He and Chloe walk ahead, leaving the rest of us behind. I ask tess, "You really think this is a good idea?" She shakes her head, "No." "Great," I input sarcastically. She purses her lips and nods her head.

Her expression quickly changes to one of puzzlement. "It doesn't make any sense. Why would Chloe fight for him to stay with us," Tess ponders out loud. "I'm sure she has her reasons," Oliver adds. "Maybe," she responds. I'm with Tess on this one. Chloe's all for secrets, and the less people that pry the better. And, boy, is this guy gonna pry. Especially since he didn't even back down from Tess. I mean neither do I, but mine's in good nature. His isn't.

As we continue, Tess falls into silence and deep thought. I think about Clark. I miss him. I want him here with me. I want him to make me feel safe. I just wish he was here, is that so bad? "Maybe we're looking for reasons in all the wrong places. Maybe... Do you think she might..," Oliver starts. Is he implying Chloe has a thing for this guy? Tess raises her eyebrows, but then thinks, maybe. If she's lonely enough, she might. I mean I miss Clark, but if she doesn't have that tether. Interesting.

We find a place to stop so we all sit down and just talk. I think Chloe gave _him_ the lowdown on who's who. I ask to talk to him. He agrees and we walk away from the group. "What's up, Lois, right?" How do you say 'keep away from my cousin' without sounding ridiculously rude. "Chloe she's my cousin. By blood, anyway. Really, she's like my sister. Stay away from her. You will hurt her. That can't happen. Stay away from her." We'll, being polite was never a main objective for me. Oh, well. "Look, sorry, but you can't tell me what to do. I like your cousin. So, I'm gonna see where this goes. And you can't stop me," he explains. He walks back to Chloe. They start up another conversation. I stick to my tongue at him as he walks away. Tess and Oliver were talking so I join them. I bet Chloe knows what I said. I bet she doesn't care.

We all fall asleep. Tess and Oliver are in each other's arms. Chloe and, well, the guy who's name doesn't even deserve to cross my lips, are next to each other. And I'm alone. Come on, Clark, move it. I need you here with me.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Super sorry, guys. I know I haven't updated in a while. I was super busy. I had finals, and softball playoffs, and basically everything under the sun. Also the device, I guess, that I've been writing on broke. So was pretty much finished and then, boom, it's gone. Again, really sorry.

Chapter 9

Lois

We walk. We walk and walk and walk. Chloe and the thing are behind me. They talk just as much as we walk, and that's a lot just in case you couldn't figure that out. And I don't think they're just talking, I think they're flirting. Ahhhhhhhhhh! I need soap for my brain! While I'm thinking about the newest couple (ew, that's gross, remind me to never think that again) Tess stops. She just freezes, she looks like she's looking for something. I might have to call those guys in the white outfits with the long sedation needles, if phones still worked, obviously. "Oliver, what did you do?" I question. I didn't do anything, and people don't just freeze for no reason, so that means he had to do something. "Nothing! Tess are you okay?" he turns to Tess, concerned. Tess shakes her head and has that look on your face that you get when you're trying to figure out what you ate for breakfast this morning. It's like I know I know, I just can't remember. Chloe and the twig catch up. "Whoa, what's up with her?" it asks. Chloe seems to sense the mood. "Can you give us a minute?" she asks. He shrugs and walks off.

"He's gone. Just gone," Tess explains, a little I guess. I mean obviously she could've been a little more specific. "Who's gone?" Chloe asks. Tess furrows her eyebrows. She still seems dazed, which is weird because Tess is always so 'listen to me, I know what I'm doing'. Really quickly, though, she snaps back to the commanding Tess we all know and put up with. "He was guiding me. I know Clark's close, probably a 4 mile radius, at the most. We'll split up into two groups. Lois, Chloe, and Mark will cover the west side. Oliver and I will take the east." I chuckle sarcastically, that can't happen. I can't be within a mile of him for an extended period of time. I've already considered the many ways to kill him. That was a good dream. "Yeah, no. No, no, no, no ,no," I persist.

She starts to pull me aside. The whole time I'm resisting. "No, no, no, no, no…" She rolls her eyes. "Stop," she sighs, "What are you, five?" I give her a death glare. First she sticks me with the bag of bones, and then she insults me. She knows no tact. "Look I don't completely trust Mark. I need you to keep your eye on him." She just doesn't want to be near him herself. "Why can't you do it?"

"Do you remember what happened last time we left you and Oliver alone together?"

"That was one time. And we made it out okay."

"We only left you alone one time. And you barely made it out."

"I won't make the same mistake twice."

"Lois, you did what you always do, charge into things without thinking."

"Exactly, that means I'll end up killing the twerp without thinking about the consequences."

"Maybe, but I still think Clark's had too much of an effect on you for you to do that."

"Fine."

"Thank you," she says as she smirks and walks back to the group. I hate that cocky 'I can make you do whatever I want you to' attitude. I stick my tongue out at her. She calls the thing back over and tells him the plan. He shrugs. "Works for me" I scowl at his willingness to work with me. I mean he's supposed to be annoyed by my extreme dislike of him and unending wit that mocks his unending lack of wit. Both existing solely to annoy him, but he doesn't seem to care about all the work I put into annoying him, and he's not even putting in the effort to be at least a little bit ticked about it. Can you believe this guy?

"We might as well start moving," Tess states rather than asks. Oliver and Chloe nod, and the thing shrugs, again. You know who shrugs a lot, people who have no opinions. You know who else has no opinions zombies. Oh my gosh, he's a zombie. I mumble a few fairly unfriendly things. Tess looks at me, sees my disgruntled expression, and smirks. "I'm glad we're all in agreement." The geek replies, "I don't know, Lois doesn't seem very happy about it." He's losing brain cells by the minute. Look I see them all over the place. Soon, he'll have lost so many of them he'll be in a vegetative state! Is it bad that I might enjoy that? Oh, well, he'll live, technically.

"Let's go," I grumble. So we start walking, again. I don't know how I've walked this far. I just silently thank life for not sticking me barefoot or in stilettos. I could barely walk paved city streets in those. I couldn't even think about walking in this terrain in those. I mean this is worse than the supposedly paved sidewalks of Smallville.

The whole time we walk I refuse to say a word to him. Chloe tries to start up a conversation, but the likelihood of me partaking in a conversation that the numbskull could have an input is slim. Very, very slim. Especially since conversation is optional, and for those who don't know, I'm very stubborn and proud of it. So, yeah, I won't say anything, if it's not life or death. Actually I might not say anything even then. Like I said, very stubborn.

And that's how my completely uneventful day went. That night, with ropes, we tied ourselves up into trees. This decision involved conversation, which I was not very happy about. It was very uncomfortable, both the sleeping in the trees and the conversation, but the conversation more so.

The next morning we walk begin to walk again. Hey, I just realized, if Clark's so close why can't he hear our footsteps, then look for our heartbeat. We all know he knows my heartbeat. Tess! "Chloe, you and I need to talk, now." She raises an eyebrow, and looks over at the forever puzzled dog, and nods. He walks away. Does anyone else think the air just began to smell a lot better? "Why can't Clark hear us?" I see realization dawn on her face. Wow, I just came up with an idea/thought before Chloe. Do I get an award for that? I should. She stutters and shakes her head, "I don't know. There has to be a reason, right? Why? Brainiac's good in the future. And he's from the future. There has to be a reason." I'm not so sure, personally. "Lead, he's somewhere with lead. He can't hear through it. That's it. I'm sure." But, Chloe gets me back with a solution to the problem I came up with. Does this mean I have to give the award back? "Okay, we'll keep looking." Chloe calls back to the man, no it doesn't work, boy who is still oblivious.

After a few minutes we see a warehouse. That could be made out of lead, or at least have some in it. I look at Chloe and we do that we're related so we can read each other's mind look thing, you know what I'm talking about, right? "Could your friend be in there?" the nimrod asks. I nod, still refusing to say anything to him. "Let's go," Chloe says. We walk into the huge double doors. It's a huge open room, with boxes stacked around it. I half expect Tom Cruise to walk around the corner. It's a classic super spy situation. We walk all around for a good fifteen minutes. We walk down a long hallway with a big single door at the end of it. That's exactly where the big bad guy's office is, the one with the big computers are. Chloe nods. I shake my head in disbelief. I'm definitely not opening that door. Nothing good will come out of that door. Chloe seems to be thinking the same thing because she also shakes her head, too. We both look at the newly; designated guinea pig.

"Okay," he says, shrugging. He obviously hasn't seen very many movies. I wonder what he did in his spare time, then. He obviously didn't exercise, he's a twig. He pulls open the door, and surely enough, nothing good is there. Zombies, lots and lots of zombies. "Run!" he yells. No, duh. We turn. We run like crazy. I refuse to think about what's behind me. I can't think about what'll happen if they catch up. I've seen what happens, the torn up corpses, the forever frozen horrified looks. No, stop, you can't think. Just run, keep running.

I leap behind a stack of crates, and the dolt dives in behind me. Obviously, he wasn't smart enough to find his own hiding spot. As the zombies pass us, I relax. Then I realize, where's Chloe? I whip my head around to look him in the eye and ask him this exact question. He pales looks like he does have some brain cells. But he obviously doesn't know. "Way to go, Lancelot, you lost her!"


	10. Chapter 10

Tess

Maybe sending Lois off with Mark was not such a great idea. And what is going on with Chloe? She hasn't been like that since, well never. At least not that I've seen. Second guessing yourself won't do anything, not now, anyway. Also we've been walking for hours. We stopped last night and that's when a scary thought occurred to me. Why can't Clark hear us? Lead, that's the only solution I could come up with. I haven't said anything to Oliver. I'm hoping he won't think to question it. He's seen places he thought we should check, but I lead him away every time. I know he suspects something, I just don't know how much or how close he is.

"Hey, there's a sewage vent, like the one you stayed in." That could be made out of lead. Unfortunately, I know there's another thought that had occurred to me, but I simply refused to accept. There's one other reason that Clark couldn't hear us. What if he doesn't have his powers? If he doesn't have his powers, there may be no way back to the world we lived in. "Tess? You okay?" Oliver asks with tender concern that would be heartwarming, that is if I wasn't currently thinking about all the possible ways everything could go wrong. I nod. "Let's check," I respond. Oliver still looks wary but nods.

We walk into the dingy little pipe. Mine was much cleaner, though the layout is similar, the shape, the diameter, even the little fire in the corner. But there is one major difference. There are kryptonian symbols carved everywhere. Don't misunderstand me, I can't read them. But I know them when I see them. "We'll wait here," I say. "Okay. Are you okay? Ever since Brainiac left, you've been…distant," he asks. "Well, I'm trying to figure out why he left. And I keep coming to one conclusion. The future has changed, we did something wrong. Now he can't communicate, or maybe something even worse." He sighs, "Look, I know that the thought is scary, being unguided, but maybe we have to do this on our own. We found Clark, obviously," he says as he gestures to the elaborate symbols covering the drainage pipe.

I didn't think of that. But I think that that thought is just more comforting. I look out into the distance and see a figure. I stand up to get a better look. Just as I do that, a red laser comes shooting right next to me. I spin just quick enough to dodge it. Just as quick, another one is shot straight at my chest. I bend backwards and it just misses me. "Tess!" Oliver yells. Apparently that was enough to make Clark, as it so obviously is, hesitate. A burst of wind whooshes past me. Suddenly, I feel a hand around my throat. He pushes me up against the wall. I can't breathe. I gasp for air but it's ungraspable. I reach for my gun, I have to try. It may be my only shot, literally. Oliver yells again,"Clark let her go. It's me! It's Oliver!" I shoot at Clark's foot, hoping to startle him enough into letting me breath, even if only for a second. He hesitates, and I inhale deeply and quickly. Finally, he realizes who it is. He drops me and I gasp for air.

"Clark, are you nuts? Have you completely lost it?" Olive yells as he rushes to my side. Clark's demeanor just isn't right. Something's off about him. Right now my brain's too foggy to figure out what it is. "Clark as you know him is no longer in control of this body," Clark, or Clark's body says. I knew something is off. By this point I'm fine, so I stand up. "Then who are you?" I ask. He smiles, though not one of joy, more as though one of light amusement. I know that smile. It's the one I put on my face for years, trying to hide the pain and misery that always dwelled beneath the surface. But his is different in one way, his is real, it's not a mask. I created mine to make myself intimidating, his shows what's deep inside. But, I know if I show him truly how superior he is, he'll eat Oliver and I alive. And I can't let him touch Oliver. So, I pull out my own mask. It's perfected, and anyone in their right mind would be scared of it. The only catch being, I'm not sure if he's in his right mind. "I am Jor-El."

"Why would you take over your son's body?" I question. He answers, plainly, simply, "He wouldn't have survived. Did you know him?" I nod. "We did. I'm Tess and this is Oliver. We're his friends," I emphasize. I need Jor-El to understand that we won't hurt him. Otherwise we may not make it out of here alive. "Can I entrust my son to you?" Oliver comes up behind me, for moral support I'm assuming. It's not like he could do much good against superman. "Yes," he says, confidently. He seems to have caught on to the fact that if we don't appear confidant and trustworthy we will be vaporized, literally. Jor-El curtly nods.

His eyes light up, and I'm not talking about when a small child sees a toy, I'm talking literally. His eyes started glowing white. It's blinding, and expanding. Quickly, it completely engulfs the pipe. But just as quickly it disappears. Now Clark is lying in a crumpled heap on the ground, seemingly unconscious. I kneel down next to him and Oliver does the same. I check his pulse. It's there, a little accelerated, but otherwise normal. He groans and begins to shift. I look at Oliver and he gives me a reassuring look. Clark then rolls over and sits up obviously still groggy. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a massive headache right now. He looks over at us with a vague expression of faint recognition. "Tess? Oliver?" Oliver and I breathe out a sigh of relief. To be honest I half expected him to have amnesia or something.

Quickly, Clark snapped out of his daze. "We have to help people. They're infected with something. I don't know what but we have to help them. Oliver, suit up. Tess, head to watchtower," he commands. Oliver and I look at each other. How do you explain to someone that their father took over their body for two years? "Clark, you have to listen to us," I begin,"Jor-El took over your body. It's been two years. The disease spread. For a while we thought it was the whole world, but now, we have reason to believe that it's just this continent. Brainiac was guiding us to you. Lois, Chloe and this new guy, Mark, used to be with us. But we had to split up, because Brainiac could only guide us to your general location. Now we have to find them, but that could prove a little more difficult," I finish. "Which means we should start moving," Oliver adds "Okay, let's go," Clark agrees.


	11. Chapter 11

Chloe

Run, keep running, Chloe. You can do this. Don't look back. "Uhhhhhhhhhhh," I can hear their groans from behind me. They sound pained, I almost feel bad for them, like I should put them out of their misery, or something. No, can't think, thinking slows you down. And being slow is not an option. They can't catch up. They can't. I see bushes, probably big enough to hide my petite figure. I dive into them and they do hide me. As I watch the undead go by me I feel my sky high heart rate begin to make its descent. But very quickly it shuttles right back up when I hear more groaning from behind me. There's a group of brain eaters right behind me.

The first group is gone. Now I've got to deal with the second one, lucky me. I hop up into a fighting position that hopefully would be intimidating, if zombies could be intimidated. Which would be helpful, but I'm running out of fingers to count the amount of times life has tried to kill me. It's one of the downsides to being superman's BFF. I pull out the swords that cross my back. I spin extending the swords in each direction. I legitimately chop off two of their heads. There's now a space for me to slide through. As I slide through I chop off some feet. It was disgusting. I hop back on my feet and run again. I climb up a tree, just like Tess made me do. Except this time there are higher stakes.

These dimwits also pass. Wait, where's Lois and Mark? How far away did I run? I guess the best thing to do is head back the way I came. Except I don't know which way I came. I know I have to get down the tree. I move down branch by branch, twig by twig, and start to move in the way I thought I came from. I know I go the wrong way a couple times, but eventually I get back to the warehouse. I figure Lois and Mark wouldn't have gone too far. Actually knowing Lois, they probably did. But this is all I got.

I walk through the aisles of crates. I don't see anything. So I was right, they did leave, fantastic. I walk outside, I figure, I'll look for footprints or something. That's what they do in the movies. There are footprints. That's not the problem. The problem is there are a lot of footprints, probably from the zombies that chased me away from Lois and Mark. So I'm not entirely sure which set to follow. It looks like they're all heading the same way. Wait, then why didn't I see them? I guess it doesn't matter. I guess I should start heading back to where Tess said we'd meet. And if Lois and Mark are smart, they'll do the same. Unfortunately, that isn't likely.

I think east, maybe? Brainiac, a little help would be nice. East. Thank you. I start heading east. I remember the terrain, the trees, creeks, rocks, all of it. Finally, I get to the clearing where we separated. I hope somebody finds Clark, or he comes by here. We forgot to figure out a signal. I knew we were forgetting something. Suddenly, a huge red beam comes out of nowhere. That'll work. I hope Mark and Lois saw it. It's getting dark. Are they all going to come here right away? Well, I might as well stay here. If need be I can sleep in the trees. Food, huh, I kind of forgot about that. I'm not that hungry, I guess I can skip. I don't want to miss somebody. I'll sit down; I mean no point in standing this whole time.

And 'this whole time' turned out to be like five seconds. Clark comes zooming with Tess in his arms. She hops down, and he whooshes off again; presumably to get Oliver. "Hey, you obviously didn't get very far if your back already," she says. I glare at her. "I was running from zombies," I explain. Clark speeds back. "Ah," Tess says as she nods. A huge smile spreads across Clark's face. "Hey, Chloe," Oliver acknowledges. "Hi, Chloe," Clark says as he comes over to hug me. He gives me a great, big bear hug. I forgot how huge he is. He completely engulfs me. He pulls away. Darn, it felt good, I mean, I'm not in love with him like I was before, but he's invincible, so it feels safe.

"Where are Lois and Mark?" Tess realizes. Man, I was kind of hoping she wouldn't notice that. "We got separated," I kinda-sorta explain. Clark interjects, "Who's Mark?" "Chloe's boyfriend," Oliver answers. I glare at her. "He's not my boyfriend," I retort.

Tess rolled her eyes. "And Oliver and I aren't together," she says. "It doesn't matter what you call him. We picked him up when we were looking for you," I explain, ignoring Tess. "What should we do? Should we go look for them?" Tess asks.

Oliver answers, "I think we should give them a chance to find us, don't you?"

Clark nods. "You only just gave the flare. I think we should give them until this time tomorrow."

Tess seems to disagree. Her eyebrows shoot up in that condescending, 'do you?' glare. "That's too long. Something will happen, "she explains.

Oliver argues, "They're probably looking for Chloe. Besides, they probably want to stay as far away from you, for as long as they can, Mercy. I say we give them until tomorrow evening. "

Tess glares at him briefly and then turns her gaze to Clark. "I agree with Oliver and Chloe," he cautiously states, afraid Tess will fight him on it. Clark has never won an argument with Tess. He's just too passive. So he's always wary of arguing with her. Understandably, though, Tess certainly isn't the one I have the most confidence of winning an argument with.

She sighs, "Okay, but no longer than that." She's definitely reluctant to seem as though she relinquished any form of power. Maybe the commanding attitude is natural for her, I don't know. I'm not her, obviously.

"We might as well sleep here. Is that okay with everyone?" she asks, well, more like states. It doesn't matter to me to be honest. "Why don't we sleep where I was staying?" Clark asks.

Tess gives Clark one of those 'you can't be serious' looks. He shies away from her a little. "Bad idea?" he asks. He's super-strong, super-fast, he has a lot of super stuff, but super-smarts were obviously missed in the package. "We have to stay here in case Lois and Mark come back," Tess explains. "At night?" Oliver asks. Maybe it's just a guy thing. "Maybe, or maybe we don't wake up early enough and they show up here and leave. We all know about Lois' impatience issues," I point out. Oliver nods with 'oh now I understand' expression. "Right," Clark responds.

So we all sit on the ground. They all catch me up on what happened. "So your father is evil after all," I joke. "Not evil, he was just trying to protect me," Clark replies. Oh, Clark, always trying to see the good in people. I have to give, though. I will never be able to be as positive as him. It's got to be difficult. "Right," Oliver answers. "I'm just glad he didn't hurt Tess too bad," I states. "Though not for the lack of trying," Oliver replies. Tess and I give each other a glace like, 'can you believe these two?' She interjects, "Even I've got to admit. Your father's got good aim." We all chuckle a little. I tell them about what happened after we seperated

Slowly, we all fall into our own separate conversations. Since Tess and Oliver already told Clark about what happened while we were separated, and we don't want to bore each other with the same stories, since that's all we had to talk about before, I tell Clark about the less recent adventures of Chloe Sullivan. You've got to love Clark, he'll always listen. And he always gets so into the story, he gets so concerned. It's kind of funny. Tess is the first one to fall asleep, in Oliver's arms, go figure, and then Clark, until all that's left is me and Ollie. Something seems off with him, and I'm not sure Tess noticed it. In fact I'm pretty certain she didn't. "What's wrong?" I ask. He lays Tess' head down in his lap and sits up to talk to me. He shakes his head, nonchalantly. "Nothing." He's going to try to sidestep this. I can't let him. Bottling things up won't help. He needs to talk. "There's something." There's a long silence before he speaks again. "She has a knack for getting into danger, doesn't she?"

"Tess?"

"Yeah," his face looks sullen downcast. He gazes down at her sleeping form, entranced. "She does. But she also has a knack for getting out of it too," I answer. He nods, "That doesn't mean it isn't scary when she gets into it though."

"That's true."

"Why can't I protect her? What am I doing wrong?" he asks, more to himself then to me. He plays with her hair, seemingly trying to freeze this moment. "We're all in danger, Ollie. She's not in any more danger than you are," I reply, trying to ease the inevitable pain that comes with nearly losing the love of your life. "Even before all this started. She got into trouble." That's true, but I've done this comforting thing one too many times to just give up, because he's making it difficult. "Not to sound redundant, but we all did. I mean, look at Lois." He nods again, never removing his eyes from her face. "She died three times in two years. And even before that. We met on a deserted island. If that doesn't scream danger, I don't know what does." He's kind of right. But, I can't let him know that. "But that's not what you're talking about. Is it?" I ask, "You're talking about what happened today." Silence, he doesn't respond. Just keep his eyes fixed on the graceful features of the woman he's so worried about. "Tess knows how to deal with all of this. She's been through it all. She can handle it, Ollie. Trust her."

He tears his gaze away. "Thanks, Chloe. We should get some sleep." He's grateful, and I think he actually feels a little better.

"Goodnight, Ollie," I say. He shifts himself so he lies directly next to Tess. He wraps his arms around her and holds her close. She snuggles herself into him.

I lay down myself, and hope that maybe one day I can have a love like that. They have a connection that is completely undeniable. And with these thoughts I drift off to sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

Lois

I can't believe I have to stay with this thing, especially since he lost my cousin, after he made himself out to be some kind of superhero. Clark is a superhero, maybe even Oliver is a superhero, but mostly Clark. "We have to find her," he states.

Really? I had no idea. "Great idea, Einstein, why didn't I think of that?" I've always surrounded myself with semi-intelligent people. Chloe, Tess, Clark, he's fairly smart, a little, Ollie, at times. But this guy? He's got two brain cells and they're growing rapidly weaker. "I'm sure you would have," he replies. Blink, blink. Is he serious? I need to bash my head into something, anything would be good. "Thanks, now go spread your hippie, positivity message somewhere else. 'Cause I've gotta find my cousin." He looks up at me with annoyingly optimistic eyes.

"Wait, let me help you," he pleads. How many ways can I say no? "It's your fault we lost her. You've already done enough damage. Thank you," I add with finality. He gives me puppy dog eyes. But they've never worked on me, unless, of course, it's Clark. He does them so well, it's amazing. It's like looking into the two clear blue orbs with so much feeling it would make anyone's heart melt. But this guy's such an amateur, it's not even funny. "But extra help couldn't hurt," he coaxes. I glare at him. He can't help. That's the problem, he can only hurt.

"You'd only get in my way."

"That's not true."

"What can you do?"

"I can…I can, uh."

"Exactly."

"You can't stop me from following you."

Is he serious? He can't be. That's so childish. Like, seriously? "Really?" I ask, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yup," he replies.

I give him my patented death glare that could rival Tess'. "Fine," I grunt. I start walking and he reliably follows like a lost puppy. Chloe better not marry this guy, or anything, or I'll pull my hair out so often that I'll be bald. And Clark won't like a bald Lois. I follow the footprints that could only be either Chloe's or her rabid followers. There's a silence hanging between the puppy dog and I. But I'm certainly not going to break it, and if he's smart, neither will he. Which means he's probably going to start jabbing any minute now. "So do you have any idea where she could be?" Wow, he really is that dim witted. I wonder if he can even help it. "Yes, I know exactly where she is. You see, she and I have this cousin telepathy thing. So she's feeding me the directions to where he is," I reply.

"Was that sarcasm?" he asks, completely sincerely. I can't do this anymore. I just can't I mean how do you respond to that? "Yes, that was sarcastic," I reply frankly, after considering going with another sarcastic comment but I was worried he wouldn't get it, and I would have to put this machete to good use. "Oh, okay, I just had to make sure." I take a deep breath before I continue. I give him a bitter-sweet smile. "Yeah." I turn back around and roll my eyes. I couldn't help it, I mean, he's just so… so… There's not even a word for it. The only way to say it is innocence, but it's also so innocent it's awkward. It's confusing, but really annoying.

We walk in silence, might I add, thank whoever, until there are no more footprints. Because all of them head in different directions, and there's no single set, we stop. At that moment a huge red flare goes up that could only come from our favorite boy scout. "Wow that was bright. What was that?" the oblivious little boy yells. I roll my eyes. "I think that was Tess signaling for us. We've got to go." He furrows his brow. "What about Chloe?" he asks.

"She'll have seen the flare and she'll head there," I explain simply enough so that he can understand. He nods. So we head that way, again in silence. Hours later, because it's late we decide to stop for the night. "We'll keep going tomorrow. They won't go anywhere," I tell him. He agrees, at least he doesn't put up a fight, about most things, anyway. We climb up some trees and go to sleep.

The next morning we wake up early, and by 'we' I mean I woke up early, and threw twigs at his tree until he woke up. He climbs down and says, "Okay, let's go." He's telling me? Ugh, he's so arrogant. So we walk towards where we separated. We walk for a while, me completely ignoring his presence, him watching where I'm going really closely. It's a while before we come to the clearing. Tess, Chloe, Oliver, and…Clark, its Clark! "Clark!" I run into his arms so fast he didn't have time to react. He turns and I practically tackle him. I take that back, I did tackle him. But he doesn't seem to mind because he embraces me in a typical Clark fashion, not too hard, because, let's face it, if he held me too hard, he could crush me, but it's not too hard, let's just say it feels good. I kiss him. "Welcome back, Lois," Tess interrupts. I turn around to face her. "Thanks, Tess," I reply. Then I see Chloe and I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. "Hey, guys," she acknowledges the outsider as well as me. Of course she would acknowledge him. The only thing that could make this moment better would be him not being here.


	13. Chapter 13

Chloe

Hours after Mark and Lois come back; Clark and Lois go away from the group a little to talk alone. But it takes me only minutes to realize Mark is a total dimwit. Before, I kind of carried the conversation, but now that he's come out of his shell, I wish he hadn't. Now I understand why Lois was so annoyed with him all the time. Was I really so lonely that I ignored his lack of brains? How do I tell him that whatever was happening between us is not going to happen…ever?

"Hey, Chloe could we talk?" Oh, no he wants to talk.

"Yeah sure," I say despite every nerve in my body telling me not to.

We walk away from the group in the opposite direction of Clark and Lois. "Look, I know something was happening between us, but your friends just hate me too much. Lois hasn't said anything nice to me since we met."

"Yeah."

"Oliver hasn't said a word to me."

"True."

"And everything out of Tess' mouth is condescending."

'"Actually, she's like that with everyone."

He shrugs. "She's not like that with everyone else."

I sigh. "We earned her respect and trust."

"Whatever. It doesn't matter. I'm outie." Did he just say outie? "Okay bye." He waves and walks off. I walk back to Tess and Oliver. Tess looks up at me and raises an eyebrow. Oliver in return also looks up. "Where's Mark?" he questions. I smile, and I know Tess will love this. "He's gone. He left." Tess looks unbelievably relieved as leans back against Oliver. "Finally." We all smile. "I'm going to go tell Lois," I call back as I turn to walk away. "Did you buy balloons? She'll want to have a party." All of us chuckle.

I go over to Lois and Clark and they both look up at me. "Chlo, you've got to learn timing," Lois scolds. I smile.

"I know, but I thought you might like to know, Mark's gone." She perks up and her eyes light up. "Really?" I smile again and nod. "Yes! Finally! He's gone!" She fist pumps, does a little dance, all the while never getting up. Clark laughs at her enthusiasm. "I take it you weren't a fan."

"I hated him so much that I never thought or said his name."

"Let's just say they weren't destined to be the next Chloe and Clark," I joke.

He laughs again. Then awkward silence ensues so I head back over to Tess and Oliver, who are much more welcoming of outside company. "Party fees?" Tess asks with a straight face. "$50 for balloons, $139 for the cake, and $1300 for the DJ, but he wants to be paid now," I return, mimicking the straight face. Oliver laughs. "I can cover the cake and balloons, Tess can you pay the DJ?" Oliver carries on with the joke. Tess nods, "I got it." We all laugh.

But the laughter doesn't last long. A horde of zombies close in around us. I look around. "Where are Lois and Clark?!" Tess yells, obviously angry. I look around again. No Lois or Clark. Fantastic. "Uh, not here," Oliver answers.

"Great," Tess grunts.

"Yup," I reply.

Oliver pulls out his bow and arrows. Tess' eyes light up in alarm. "That's all you have to defend yourself?"

"The arrows work up close." She gives a reluctant look, but seems to realize that we don't have time to debate this. "Fine." I unsheathe my swords and immediately go into a battle stance. Tess makes the same moves. She takes a knife in her right and a pistol in her left. Oliver and her start taking out as many as they can. But others are closing in. I stab one, but it doesn't seem to affect it. I can't remove the sword. It puts its face right up against mine as it snaps its jaw at me. I move my face as far away from it as I can. Its skin is transparent; I can see the veins, the muscles, all running all through its body. Quickly, without ever letting go of the first sword, I spin and cut off its head. It stops struggling. I turn the body to face me and kick the body back so the sword comes out of it. I take a deep breath.

I look over at Tess. She's shooting them left and right. One comes up behind her she stabs it and spin kicks it so hard its head gets knocked off. Oliver has put the bow back in his quiver and just has two arrows in his hands. He crosses the arrows through one of their necks and he punches it off. I run up to one of them, slide past it, and cut of its legs, I then stand up and crush its head. I don't see any more so I look to help Oliver. "Chloe, a little help here?" I go over and he stabs it through the chest and I cut off its head. I look back at Tess. She spins and cuts off one's head, stops, and shoots the last one in the head.

She sighs. "And all without Clark." Oliver and I laugh. All of us are breathing heavy, having taken out 2 dozen rabid, brain-eating zombies. It's definitely hard enough work to warrant heavy breathing. We sit down again. "Should we be looking for Lois and Clark?" Oliver realizes. Tess shakes her head.

"After all that's happened they deserve to fend for themselves," she condemns. Seems harsh, I get up realize that I must have hurt my ankle in the fight. Tess takes a deep breath and winces. She goes to take off her jacket and grimaces again. "Let me help," Oliver offers. She shakes her head, tries again, stops and nods. He slides the jacket off her. She looks down at her side. One of her ribs is broken, you can tell. It's black and blue and swelling, and sticking out. It hasn't broken skin, but it's bad. "How did you fight?" I wonder aloud. She gives a I don't know look and shrugs, but seems to immediately regret it. "What do we do?" Oliver panics. I'm going to have to take over.

"How bad is it?" Tess questions.

I shake my head. "Not good. We're going to have to reset it." Oliver looks up at me in alarm. Tess smiles. "I trusted you enough to let you kill me, this is nothing." I put a clam look on my face. "It's going to hurt." She nods.

"Ready? One…two…three."

I push it partially back in place. She cries out. "Stop, Stop it, you're hurting her!" I shake my head. "Just a little more," I tell him. It snaps into place. "Done." Tess breathes lightly, trying not to breathe too deeply so that she hurts herself. "I'm fine," she reassures Oliver. I rummage through my bag to see if there's an ace bandage. There's not. "There's one in my bag." Tess nods toward her bag. I nod and go to get it. Sure enough there's one in there. I grab it and walk back over. Oliver is holding Tess' hand. She repositions her arms to make it easier for me to access, she winces the whole time. I start wrapping it and I can tell she is doing her best not to grimace. I finish. "You okay?" she nods.

"Hey, guys," I hear Lois greet from behind us. Tess' eyes light up in fury. She stands up with no problem. I've got to be honest I would have thought that would hurt more. "And where exactly have you been?" Tess yells, infuriated. Maybe her anger had something to do with the swiftness of how she got up. "Clark and I took a walk" Lois shrugs off.

"Oh, really, was it nice?" Tess asks in a way that one would have thought was sincere if you hadn't seen the look in her eye. Lois seems confused, but otherwise unafraid, which she should be, considering that Tess has a broken rib, and is currently fairly immobile, and Tess does not like being immobile. "Yeah, it was," she answers as Clark comes up behind her. "Great, I'm glad you had a great time because while you two were having your fantastic walk we were ambushed by a pack of 2 dozen zombies, which landed me with a broken rib, all because you and Clark couldn't have your reunion over where Clark's heat vision could have blasted them. But I'm glad you had a great time!" Tess sarcastically yells.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. I mean…"she tries to apologize but Tess cuts her off.

"I don't want to hear it. You're not on your own anymore. You have to think about what could happen, Lois!" she scolds, in her calm anger that she's practically patented.

Clark interrupts bad idea. "It was not just Lois' idea." She turns her sights, her furious, furious sights, on Clark. "And you! I expected this from Lois, but from you? Come on, Clark, did Jor-El mess with your brain in more ways than one?" she begins on Clark, still scarily calm. Clark realizes the degree of her fury and backs away again, and lets Lois, who is much more accustomed to Tess' anger. She sighs, making sure that Clark and Lois hear the frustration in the sigh. She turns and begins to walk away. "Where are you going?" Lois yells after her. "Do you want dinner?" She asks.

"Tess, wait, your rib. You can't hunt!" Oliver calls to her. Her calm fury seething so horribly that we all know that no one except maybe Oliver can help. "I'll shoot with my left," she explains. He goes after her leaving me, Lois, and Clark alone.

Lois turns to face me. "Broken rib, huh?" she asks. I nod, and Clark winces. "We're going to have to leave later."

"Fantastic."


	14. Chapter 14

Tess

Rash, harsh, it's these words that most would describe me by, especially after a fit of fury like what just happened. I don't think it was, but everyone else would agree with those words because right now, most likely, Lois is the one saying them. Clark, having also had to endure my onslaught, would wholeheartedly agree. And Chloe, having a sense of loyalty unknown to many, would side with them. Oliver is the only one I have on my side. The plans I had, they'll work, but now, they'll be delayed.

We were going to get to the border. Clark was going to speed each of us past the border patrol. And we were going to go to any major city, well, that is Clark would speed us there. I figured Chloe and I could come up with a cure, we would do so and Clark would release the cure into the air above the affected areas. But this rib is a major setback.

Also what were they thinking? Do they honestly believe that that was okay, that they can do that? This isn't Metropolis, there are bigger stakes, but they don't seem to understand that. We were attacked when our guard was down because we believed that we had Clark and that meant he would take care of anything that came our way.

I become vaguely aware of Oliver next to me, slightly afraid to break the silence. I take a deep breathe, trying to calm myself. Although, I don't need to do much work, Oliver's mere presence has always had calming effect on me. "You okay?" he begins.

"Yeah."

I can see him nod out of the corner of my eye. I see a squirrel running across the forest floor. I pull the gun out of the left holster and shoot it. I go to bend down to retrieve it but receive a tearing pain through my abdomen not completely unlike the stab wound that took me a full year to recover from. I nod towards it. "Could you…uh" Oliver smiles and nods. He picks it up and puts it into the hot wheels bag. "Four more to go," I say and set off to find another. Silence ensues, awkward silence. I've never had that with him before. He's contemplating saying something about my outburst but is slightly afraid of doing so. "Tess," he starts. I cut him off.

"I know. She didn't deserve that." He sighs.

"Why were you so upset? I don't think it was actually about the rib."

I sigh, wince, and roll my eyes. "You're right. The thing is she should be able to take a walk with her boyfriend without being worried that her friends will be attacked by rabid, brain eaters. One of the worst parts is, that should sound ridiculous. But now it's everyday life. Why did this have to happen?" he shrugs, but not in a nonchalant way, more in an 'I wish I could give you an answer' movement. "I don't know, but we have to assume it all has a meaning. Tess, keep in mind we're luckier than most. We've found our friends. They're all alive. And I'd assume you have a plan, you never go into anything without a plan." I nod again.

"I have a plan."

"Exactly, Tess, it could be so much worse."

"You're right. We can still do this. But the broken rib isn't going to help." I look over at him and he gives me a reassuring smile. "Thank you." I smile back.

We continue to hunt. A few hours later we came up with enough squirrels to feed all of us and my temper went down so we head back. As the see us Lois stands up, probably more to talk to me than for the squirrels I carry. I nod to Oliver, signaling for him to keep going. He gets my signal and keeps going. "Look, Tess, I didn't-"

I cut her off. "Forget about it. I shouldn't have snapped. You didn't deserve that." She looks like she wants to argue, but seems to think better of it. I think that's the first time we've ever sincerely apologized to each other. I've got to admit it feels a little odd. We'll slip back into our usual routine soon. "So are you two okay again?" Clark inquires. Chloe returns with a joke. "Or are we going to have to endure another Lois/Tess brawl." We laugh. "We're okay," I say trying to keep the newfound civility that is currently existing between us. "Well, as okay as anyone can be in Tess' books." And the civility is gone.

I give her a smile, just to avoid starting something. We eat, we joke, and for one night, we act like our old selves. But every single one of us knows about the overhanging question that must be answered. During a period of silence Chloe acknowledges the question. "What's the plan?" I sigh, experience another tearing pain through my chest, and make a mental not to stop sighing. This is unbelievable.

Everyone's heads turn towards me, whether they acknowledge it or not, I'm the plan-maker. "I figure Clark will get us past the border patrol, over the ocean, and to the closest major city. Then Chloe and I will see if we can use Clark's blood to come up with a cure for the disease."

"And if we can't?" Chloe brings attention to the only flaw in my plan. "We can't think like that. We'll figure it out," I attempt to reassure them. I see how their demeanor changes to one more sullen, as they realize that we have to hope that there is a cure for this. Clark's blood is the only chance we've got to defeat this because this is a Kryptonian disease. There's no cure on earth that can even attempt to fight this, but maybe there was one on Krypton that could. But these are all maybes, no sure things. "We should get some rest, especially you Clark, you're going to have to move us all," I break the silence. "What about your rib?" Oliver asks, concerned. "Yeah, you're not exactly in tip-top shape, and there's no way Clark can hold you that won't make it worse," Lois feels the need to add. "I'll tough it." Oliver looks like he wants to argue, but thinks better of it. "But Tess is right, we should get some rest," Chloe halts the conversation. Everyone nods, lays down, and tries to silence the inevitable thoughts that are running them through their heads, probably 90% of them beginning with what if.

I cuddle up to Oliver, but he doesn't put his arms around me like he usually does, for fear of hurting me. "It'll all be okay," I try to reassure him, sensing his tension. He nods, "I know."


	15. Chapter 15

Lois

We wake up, and get ready to go. "So, who wants to go first?" Clark asks, trying to move the process along. Nobody says anything. We all just look at each other, silently urging each other to step forward. "Guys, it's completely safe," Clark reassures us, thinking that it's a mistrust of him, which it's not. It's just daunting. Finally, Chloe steps up. "I'll go." Clark gives a dashing smile, and picks her up.

"Let's go." And with that they whoosh off into the distance. After a few minutes, hey, even Clark can move only so fast, we sit down again. Tess fights of groans of pain as she does so, and Oliver watches in sickeningly sincere concern. Although, it must hurt quite a bit, there's sweat forming on her brow. "You okay? You look like you ran a marathon." And while that's not entirely true, I need to do something to lighten the mood. Tess has a look that was created specifically for me, and is used only on me, well she used it on the dirt we temporarily picked up, but it was mixed with a look of pity. Mine is more just simple 'you need to learn time and place' with a dash of 'you think you're funny, but you're not', which I totally am.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you for the Lois-brand concern," said Tess.

I give her an amazingly bright smile laced with sarcasm. "No problem." Tess gives me another Lois-look, and we fall back into silence. Finally, after like a decade Clark makes a heroic return. "Who's next?" Tess looks at him, dead serious. "Where'd you take her?"

Oliver joins in on the interrogation. "You don't honestly expect us to jump into your arms without knowing where we're going." If I know my fiancé, he has no idea. Clark's eyes flash with guilt. Why do I have to know my fiancé so well? Tess seems to have the same realization that I do. "He has no idea." Clark's eyes say it all. Tess goes to get up, obviously to volunteer. "I'll go," Oliver leaps up. Tess relaxes but seems to realize he got up just a little too quickly. "What happened to 'You don't expect us to go with you without knowing where we're going'?"

"I've traveled a lot. So I'll know where he takes me, when we get there." Tess instead of being grateful, like any normal person would be, she takes offence. "I'm not exactly isolated either." A look of panic crosses Oliver's face. Nobody wants to battle with Tess on anything, so he's going to try to back down. Clark and I look on silently. "That's not what I meant. That was meant for Lois. I don't want you hurting yourself." Tess looks exasperated, though it doesn't seem to be at Oliver, but more at herself, her injury. Oliver takes advantage of Tess' silence, and goes over to Clark. They look at each other and try to grab onto each other, but pull away because it's too awkward. Tess and I lock eyes for a second, and as a result must battle our barely suppressed laughter. Finally, they settle on a position. Oliver has one arm wrapped around Clark's neck, and Clark has one of his arms under Oliver's other arm, they speed away.

"That wasn't just me, that was funny, right?" Tess smiles. "Definitely." She rests her head back against the tree behind her. We wait again in silence. When Clark comes back he asks again, "Who's next?" Tess and I look at each other again. I shrug, I don't want to make her get up again. "I'll go."

"See you there, wherever there is," Tess comments. Clark gives her a sorry smile. He picks me up and the rest of the world blurs past me. It's weird, there's a silence that descends that even I don't want to break, besides I think he has to focus. I see land, I'm not sure where we are exactly, but it's not crawling in zombies so I'm good. Before I know it I'm standing up next to Chloe and Oliver. "Hey, long time, no see," Chloe jokes. "I'm just glad for the time away, no matter how brief." I roll my eyes.

"Thanks, Oliver." He gives me a dashing smile. "No problem." Chloe laughs.

"So, where are we exactly?" Oliver shrugs. "No idea."

"We heard some people talking, sounded like French, maybe."

I look to Oliver. "You don't speak French?"

"No." I roll my eyes. "How do you run an international business, then?" Chloe has a point, how does he?

He shrugs again. "I have Tess talk to them, or get a translator." I roll my eyes again. "So Tess speaks French?" He nods. "And Italian." Chloe nods.

"So somebody can communicate, that's good."

"Yup," Oliver reassures. Clark zips back and puts Tess down. She looks pained. "You ok?" Chloe asks, concerned. She nods. "Where are we?"

"France, maybe," Oliver oh, so surely informs. "That's what we think, anyway," Chloe assists. Tess nods, "Okay." She confidently walks over to a group of people and starts talking to them. We watch her intently. "What do you think she's saying?" Clark asks, curious. We all shrug. Tess seems to make some kind of deal with them. She walks back to us. "Ok, they were French, yes, but we're in Italy. I think we should head to England to see if we can get Oliver and my money back. We had a major office in London. And the French people were willing to give us a ride, since that was their next stop anyway."

"Okay, where's their car?" Oliver asks, getting straight to the point.

"I don't know, they said to follow them."

Oliver raises his eyebrows in inquiry. "And you're sure they're not planning on just kidnapping us."

"If they are, they picked the wrong group," I say as I gesture to Clark.

"Besides," Chloe says, as always the voice of reason, "it's not like we have any other options."

"Well, that's not entirely true. Oliver and I could try to reclaim our company from here, but it'd be more difficult," Tess suggests, always willing to prove someone wrong.

"Yeah, but I figured you didn't want to do that," Chloe replies.

"Now that's true."

Oliver seems to get fed up with this conversation. "So are we going or not?"

Clark finally decides to input his opinion and offer his services. "I don't see why we should bother these people. Why don't I just speed us over there?"

"Well, to start, I'm not sure that Tess can take anymore Clark travel." Chloe gets cut off by Tess.

"That shouldn't be the deciding factor. But, I personally wouldn't like to rely on Clark's geography skills since he had no idea where he took us in the first place."

"Yeah she's right about this one, sorry big guy," Oliver inputs.

"If we're going to go then can we just go? Because I don't know about you guys, but I haven't eaten a decent meal in two years and I'm starving," I say.

"Yeah, let's go," Oliver agrees.

"Tell them we'll go," Clark says. Chloe nods and Tess walks off to give the French people our decision. I turn to Chloe. "Wait, area we going to eat?"


	16. Chapter 16

Chloe

After about fifteen hours we finally arrived in London. And to answer Lois' question, no, we did not stop to eat. So we are all starving, possibly literally fatally so. We pile out of the car, and Tess thanks the kind Frenchmen. "Can we eat now?" Lois asks for the fortieth time.

"Seriously, Tess, we're starving," Oliver chimes in. But, unfortunately food costs money, and as of right now, we don't have any money. Tess is looking around and completely ignoring them. "We need to find a bank," she says, more to herself than anyone else.

Clark furrows his brows, "Why?" Tess sighs, and then winces. I completely forgot about her rib. That was a small car, and we were all smushed so she probably was in a major amount of pain. I step in, "No, first you need a hospital." Which also requires money, but the rest of us can reclaim Oliver's fortune as well as the rest of our money, significantly less, but money, nonetheless. She turns and looks me in the eye. "But as you probably know, that also requires money."

"We can get the money, while you get treated," Clark offers.

Tess raises an eyebrow and smiles a little. "Clark, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to be forceful to get it back," Lois opens her mouth to volunteer, "but not outright insulting." Lois shuts her mouth. "I'll get treated after we get our money and eat, because you two are not the only hungry ones," she says while glaring at Oliver and Lois. Oliver gives a semi-sheepish smile. We walk around for like five minutes before we find a bank. We walk in and we're greeted by a woman in a pencil skirt. "Can I help you?" Tess already has her Ms. Mercer glare on. "Yes, I'm here to gain access to my account, get a new credit card, I'd assume you know the drill."

"Come over to my desk and I'll see if I can help you."

Tess gives her a cold smile that I had forgotten she could give. I can remember the confrontations where that same smile chilled me to the bone. But this woman has one disadvantage, I expected it and it still partially worked on me, even after I'd gone toe to toe with Lex Luthor, but her, she had no experience and obviously was not expecting it. "No, you will help me, or you'll find someone that can and you'll do the same for my friends here. Any questions?" By now, the woman's eyes are wide, "Yes, ma'am."

She leads Tess over to a small desk decorated with little trinkets and a computer. Tess sits across from her, legs and arms crossed with a cold stare that dares you to defy her. I thought her attire would downplay the scary business titan persona, but it doesn't. The jacket, tank top, jeans, and combat boots work just as well. She 'negotiates', as Tess puts it, with the poor woman. They seem to conclude the meeting, Tess gives her a cold smile, gets up, and walks back towards us. "My money's back. Next we have to get yours back." Tess explains to us what to do, what to say, what the procedure is, and about an hour later we all have our money back. As Clark, who was last, comes back over, Lois proclaims, "Now we eat!"

"Let's go," Oliver rushes.

"I suggest we head to the center of the city to see if we can find anything even half decent." And Tess' billionaire taste moves back in as the desperate forager moves out. "After two years of deer and squirrels, anything would be good," Lois announces, already halfway out the door. We all file out and into the busy streets of a heavily polluted, highly populated city that I would have been able to dive right into, had I not spent two years on a continent that was more highly populated by the undead than the living. Because of the leave of absence, I feel both unfamiliar and at home in this bustling city. I see a café down the street and realize that my last cup of coffee was two years ago, and by this point my mouth is watering even at the thought of a cup from a little stand on the side of the street. "Uh, guys, is there any way we could get a cup of coffee before we eat?"

Tess and Lois' eyes light up. "Coffee?" they echo.

"And maybe a cinnamon roll?" Lois fantasizes.

"Or a muffin?" Tess joins.

Clark and Oliver laugh. "Ok, why don't you three go get a coffee and whatever else and Clark and I'll fend for ourselves. We'll meet back here in an hours."

I nod and we walk over to the café. We get in line when I realize, I have no idea what I usually get. A Danish, and a coffee, I know, but specifics, I've got nothing. "Anybody know what I used to get?" Lois furrows her brows in deep concentration. Tess seems to search the deep recesses of her mind. It would appear those details have been overridden by things with more relevance to the zombie apocalypse. Probably a lot of those details were lost due to the locations of the millions of traps Tess set in place. The other two look like they're facing the same dilemma. "Next." Aw, man. I get up there and just let instinct take over, of course instinct would work better at the Talon or with that little coffee around the corner from Watchtower, but they're currently in need of some renovations. I get a cherry Danish and cappuccino. Tess gets a chocolate chip muffin and a latte. Lois goes for something a bit simpler with a black coffee and a cinnamon roll.

We sit down in one of the cheap sets of chairs. And we practically inhale the food, and I would have thought that we would have been hungry, but I guess it's about the same size as a squirrel, though much better tasting. "It's only been forty-five minutes. Should we head back?" Tess suggests. I shrug. "Yeah, I guess," Lois says while standing up. We head back to our rendezvous point and Ollie and Clark are already there. "Where'd you guys go?" I ask, curious how they got back so quickly. "We grabbed a Big Mac at the McDonald's down the street."

"What do we do next?" Lois rushes.

Tess smirks. "Oliver and I reclaim our company."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

It took three months for Tess and Oliver to take back Queen Industries. And after taking it back, it took Chloe and Tess a year to come up with an antidote. And after that it took about five minutes for Clark to spread the serum over North America. All the people that were formerly zombies were turned back to human. It'll take a while but eventually North America will be restored to its former glory. Lois recreated the Daily Planet online. She employs reporters and is the editor. The Daily Planet quickly becomes just as popular as it once was. Chloe and Tess work together and recreate Watchtower. Clark regained the suit and cape and became Superman once more. In the end they did it, they saved the world.

A/N: Thanks to all that stuck with it. it was one of those stories even I got tired of after a while. So if you stuck with it I'm glad that I kept with it. thanks to all! Feel free to check out my other stories though they're really, really different. thank you!

P.S. I know it looks like I posted reviews on my story, I didn't. My sister was trying to be nice. I'm not that conceited.


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